Sports

Golfer's game on rise

Madison Barber, after winning the Kingston Area and Eastern Ontario titles, will be representing the Frontenac Falcons at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations golf championships, Oct. 11-12 in North Bay. (Supplied photo)

The 17-year-old Barber shot a career-low 74 to capture the Eastern Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic Association girls individual title at Casselview Golf Club last Thursday.

Barber, who attends Frontenac Secondary School, will play at the Ontario high school Golf Festival next Wednesday and Thursday in North Bay.

Although it will be her third trip to the Golf Festival of the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations, Barber feels her game is in a better place than the other two trips.

“I feel it is going pretty steady. Ever since I broke 80 [in Kingston District sectional play in mid-August], it has just been uphill [rising on the learning curve] from there,” Barber said.

“I am feeling pretty confident going to OFSAA. Hoping to play well and come in the maybe the top 10, top 20.”

Barber, the daughter of Chris Barber, one of the area’s top amateur players and who then moved on to become a top Canadian club professional, said she has been a golf ball hitter for several years now.

But that was the extent of it, and Chris Barber said he was hesitant to push golf on his daughter.

“I wanted it to come to her on her own. Where she is today versus last year is night and day. It has been a pretty steep learning curve. I’m proud of her,” Chris Barber said.

“She hits it well. She hits it high, spins [the ball a lot] and has a lot of club speed. She hits shots that a lot of 16- and 17-year-old girls can’t hit.”

Madison Barber said things really started to click in the last year.

“I practised every day and really tried to improve,” Barber said.

“I am enjoying golf more and playing better than I was. I am seeing that all my hard work is paying off.”

Barber is happy with the way she is driving the ball, she feels her putting has improved and she is now trying to work on her iron game.

“Try to strengthen up and have more consistency with my iron shots,” Barber said.

Besides the 2-over-par 74 to win EOSSAA, Barber had a summer during which she had a 77 at the Humber Cup in Toronto, played a good second round at the Canadian Junior Girls Championship at Ottawa’s Camelot Golf Club and won every girls tournament stop on the St. Lawrence Junior Tour.

“One of the hurdles she had to get over was getting under 80. She did that and now is starting to understand the importance of the elimination of big numbers. The progression is there,” Chris Barber said.

Madison will continue to work on her game through the winter — she will play in a Florida event again — with the aim to attend a school in the United States on a golf scholarship in 2019.

“It is about her getting ready for a pretty big 2018,” Chris Barber said.

Joining Madison Barber at OFSAA will be Kiley Rodrigues of the Holy Cross Crusaders, who shot an 83 to finish third at EOSSAA.

The Ernestown Eagles boys team, led by a 72 from Stephen Beneteau and a 74 by Michael Beneteau, came first at EOSSAA by an 11-shot margin over Holy Cross.

The Beneteau brothers, Murray Craig and Hayden Underhill will play in the team competition at OFSAA, which for the boys is at the Kingsville Gold and Country Club, Oct. 11-12.

•

The Bubba Bowl, the original Friday night football game in the Kingston Area high school scene, makes its return on the revamped Gord McLellan Field in Sydenham.

There has been no Bubba Bowl the past two years when the football field, the property of the Township of South Frontenac, was upgraded in 2015. Fencing was added last year.

“It is quite an asset and being used more and more by the community,” said Mark Segsworth, public works manager of South Frontenac Township.

Segsworth said it is good to get the Bubba Bowl back in the mix. His sons played in the first Bubba Bowl in 2006 when Sydenham powered its way to victories over the La Salle Black Knights.

The same two schools will play again Friday night with the roles reversed. La Salle is the defending Kingston Area senior champion and is 2-0 heading into Friday’s game. Sydenham is 1-1. The senior game is at 7:30 p.m. The junior game starts at 5:30.

Unlike the first several Bubba Bowls, the field now has lights. There are bleacher tiers, too, both inside the fencing and outside the fencing in the end zones. The bleachers were rescued from the old Richardson Stadium at Queen’s University.

Teacher Jim Latimer recalled how the Bubba Bowl first came into play. He was visiting a football coach friend in Charlotte, N.C., and went to see a Friday night high school game at a place he said “was a lot like Sydenham.”

“I thought it was something we could try out. We were the first ones to do [Friday night football]. We took a chance and it paid off,” Latimer said.

With no lights around the field then, the organizers had to bring in generators and construction lights to put the game on.

“We’ve come a long way from then,” Segsworth said.

“It is actually a pretty good field. We are pretty happy the way it is looking. It is a fantastic asset for the community.”

•

The KASSAA cross-country championships will be held on Oct. 19 for the first time at the Little Cataraqui Conservation Area.

Organizers had to change the venue from the Lemoine Point Conservation Area after officials there deemed the area the runners use was still showing the effects of the high water levels on Lake Ontario during the early summer.

The successful qualifiers from KASSAA will move on to the EOSSAA championships, Oct. 26, in Kemptville. The Ontario finals are to be run in Petawawa on Nov. 4.

On Thursday, many of the eastern Ontario runners will be at the pre-OFSAA meet at Petawawa.